Oct 2009

Fundamental Baptist Publishing Ministry of David Cloud | Nov 2009 | Sep 2009

Friday Church News Notes

Oct/29/09 17:16

October 30, 2009, Volume 10, Issue 44

PDF VERSION

CHARLES DARWIN’S FRIGHTFUL VISION OF THE FUTURE (Friday Church News Notes, October 30, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Charles Darwin believed that man evolved from the animal kingdom largely by the process of natural selection or survival of the fittest, and he predicted that this struggle would result in the annihilation of less evolved “races” of men. In his 1871 book The Descent of Man, Darwin wrote, “At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilised races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes, as Professor Schaaffhausen has remarked, will no doubt be exterminated. The break between man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilised state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as now between the negro or Australian and the gorilla” (chapter vi). Thus, Darwin believed that Negros and Australian aborigines are lower on the evolutionary scale than Caucasians, and these “savage races” will soon be exterminated to make the way for a an evolved man “even” superior to Caucasians. That is racism of the most wretched kind, and this “science,” which was the product of the anti-God skepticism in which Darwin was reared, led directly to Hitler’s murder camps. The word “eugenics” was coined by Darwin’s cousin Francis Galton. It refers to the attempt to improve the human “race” by such means as birth control, abortion, and euthanasia. In his book Hereditary Genius, Galton looked forward to a time “when the population of the earth shall be kept as strictly within the bounds of number and suitability of race, as the sheep on a well-ordered moor.” Charles Darwin’s daughter Henrietta and her husband Robert Litchfield were fervent eugenicists. Charles’ son Leonard was the president of the First International Congress of Eugenics. He bemoaned the fact that “the unfit” are no longer killed off by hunger and disease, but “are cherished with care, thus being able to reproduce their kind.” Another son, George Darwin, called for easy divorce and contraception to encourage the survival of the fittest, predating the sexual revolution of the 1960s. A grandson, Charles Galton Darwin, a major figure in the Manhattan Project, was president of the Eugenics Society from 1953-59. Margaret Sanger, the atheist founder of Planned Parenthood, was a fervent eugenicist. Hitler praised eugenics in Mein Kampf, but as Dr. Benjamin Wiker, in his book The Darwin Myth, rightly observes, “The fundamental problem with Darwinism is not that it leads to Nazism, but that it can lead to anything” (p. 147). Darwinism destroys the basis of any true moral code.

The Garden of Eden

Oct/28/09 16:53 Filed in: Doctrine

October 29, 2009 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

The following is excerpted from the new Sunday School course “Fundamental Lessons in the Old Testament,” which is available from Way of Life Literature.

It is impossible for us to imagine in a precise manner man’s condition in the Garden of Eden before the fall, but a little sanctified thinking can doubtless give us a vague idea. This world, though fallen, contains the basic elements of paradise lost.

There was a perfect environment

There would have been an ideal climate, not too hot or too cold, gentle breezes, sparkling sunlight, the clear moon reflected through the earth’s firmament.

New Items in our Bookstore

Oct/28/09 13:37 Filed in: Way of Life

Life Changing Sermons - 500 audio sermons in one complilation

New Age Tower of Babel video series - 9 messages on 3 DVDs, or also available as a download

New Sunday School Series - Bible Fundamentals

Fundamental Baptist Digital Library (completely revamped format with reams of new books and articles)

Advanced Bible Study Series, now available on one CD in PDF format

Also, the November issue of O Timothy Online is now available.

Creation Science Videos Can Be Helpful Tools

Oct/28/09 09:55 Filed in: Evolution

Enlarged October 28, 2009 (first published February 1, 2005) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

Following are some video presentations on the subject of creation science that are useful for evangelism and education. None of these is merely a lecture. Each features excellent visual graphics and is presented in a manner that will be interesting to a wide variety of audiences. The six most interesting and effective for evangelism and general viewing, in my estimation, are A Question of Origins, From Evolution to Creation, The God of Wonders, Incredible Creatures that Defy Evolution I, Unlocking the Mystery of Life, and Where Does the Evidence Lead.

Let me emphasize that in recommending these video presentations we are not thereby recommending the organizations that produce them, which to our knowledge are New Evangelical at best. They refuse to earnestly contend for the whole faith of the Word of God. Instead, they pick a few things to stand for and treat the rest as “peripheral” and unnecessarily divisive to “the body of Christ” and restrictive to their cause. If the faith once delivered to saints were likened to a 12-string guitar, these New Evangelical organizations pluck only some of the strings, though with great vigor. They protest, “We are not churches,” but I don’t see anywhere in God’s Word that some believers are exempt to earnestly contend for “the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). Which part of the faith? All of it and particularly that part of it that happens to be under attack at any particular time. Read More...

New Release - Advanced Bible Studies Series: Digital Edition

Oct/28/09 09:52 Filed in: Way of Life

October 27, 2009 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

We are pleased to announce that we are making all 20 of our Advanced Bible Study Series books available on one CD. Now you can own all 20 books, with the test sheets and booklets, in PDF format. This format is great for Bible Institute and Sunday School teachers or anyone else who might use this material in a classroom. The entire CD is searchable making it easy to find material on any subject covered by these books. You can save money, too, as the CD is half the cost of the printed books and test sheets.

PRICE FOR THE ADVANCED BIBLE STUDIES SERIES DIGITAL LIBRARY
$99.95

The Advanced Bible Studies Series Digital Library is equivalent to a complete Bible College curriculum. We don’t believe that you will find better quality, more truly life-changing Bible courses from any other source. We are continually revising the courses, and with each new edition they become more mature. Read More...

Are Parents Responsible When Children Go Wrong?

Oct/27/09 09:59 Filed in: Family | Biblical Exhortations

Updated October 27, 2009 (first published March 3, 2000) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

I received the following e-mail in regard to the article we published entitled “Rearing Spiritual Children” by Pastor Terry Coomer of Indiana (the article is available at the Way of Life web site under the Family section of the End Times Apostasy Database) --
_____________________________

Bro. Cloud, I appreciate your sermon on “Rearing Spiritual Children.” What a truly awesome responsibility this is. But being a pastor, I have some questions. What about those godly homes in which there are two or more children, and one goes the way of the world? I believe that it is very possible, and often does happen, that parents have done an excellent job of training all their children, both my word and by godly example, only to have one choose not to live for the Lord. We are certainly not training robots. They have a free will of their own. I believe that Proverbs 22:6 simply means that after a father has done all the right things, and has lived the godly life before his children, and truly shown that he loves them, no matter how far they run they cannot outrun the training that was instilled in them. And further, if there is any hope of their returning to the Lord, it is because the Holy Spirit can use that training that was instilled in them to convict them. Read More...

Friday Church News Notes

Oct/23/09 07:35

October 23, 2009, Volume 10, Issue 43
PDF VERSION

Following in his father’s footsteps, Franklin Graham recently preached in a registered Three-Self communist church in China. The church, Bethel Church of Baoding, is the second largest church in China. This was Franklin’s second occasion to preach in Three-Self churches. It is illegal in China for churches to exist unless they register with the government and come under government restrictions which forbid them to do such things as have Sunday Schools or preach the gospel outside of times and venues approved by the communist government. Those who have refused to submit to these restrictions and have sought to obey God more than man have been harshly persecuted. Even today many unregistered preachers are in jail for their faith, as we have often reported in the Friday Church News Notes. The Three-Self Patriotic Movement and the China Christian Council were founded by the brutal Mao Tse Tung as a tool to control the churches. To preach in a deeply compromised communist-registered church is a sellout to the Lord Jesus Christ, the sole Head of the Church. The Grahams will give account to God for their great compromise of His Word and for their mocking of biblical fundamentalists who simply want to take the Bible seriously. They have gone the way of bigness and worldly popularity, but Jesus said, “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets” (Luke 6:26). (We have written many articles about the Three-Self movement and its former head K.H. Ting, a theological modernist and a master of Chinese communist propaganda. These can be found in the Fundamental Baptist Digital Library, which goes on sale in the next couple of weeks.)

Dividing Truth Into Essentials and Non-Essentials

Oct/22/09 09:17 Filed in: Evangelicalism

October 22, 2009 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

New Evangelicals have long divided doctrine into “cardinal” and “secondary” categories, and the “secondary,” we are told, can be overlooked for the sake of unity.

In Grace Awaking, Chuck Swindoll says, “My encouragement for you today is that each one of us pursue what unites us with others rather than the few things that separate us. ... There was a time in my life when I had answers to questions no one was asking. I had a position that life was so rigid I would fight for every jot and tittle. I mean, I couldn’t list enough things that I’d die for. The older I get, the shorter that list gets, frankly” (Grace Awakening, p. 189).

Even the most conservative evangelicals, such as Iain Murray, fall into this trap. Condemning Fundamentalism in America Murray stated, “In its tendency to add stipulations not foundational to Christian believing, fundamentalism was prone to make the boundaries of Christ’s kingdom too small” (Iain Murray, Evangelicalism Divided, p. 298).

This is becoming the working philosophy of Independent Baptists. In the book Thinking Outside the Book, Charles Keen says,

“I’m a slow learner, but I finally realized that not all truth is of equal value. Some truths I differ from others and divide over even die for (as least I should). With others, I might be uncomfortable with how they are handled by my brethren, but I can still fellowship with them either personally or in some cases, ecclesiastically. We need to develop some ‘ecumenicalism within the parameters of fundamentalism.’ ... Let’s decide who the enemies of the cross are and divide from them. Then let’s decide who the friends of grace are and tolerate them. We don’t have to unite but we do need unity” (p. 81).

More About Protection From Internet Evils

Oct/21/09 08:48 Filed in: Family

October 21, 2009 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

In a recent e-mail we recommended a service called Covenant Eyes, which monitors the individual’s internet usage and emails reports to selected people for accountability. Covenant Eyes also has a filtering service that can be used in combination with the accountability service. Complete information and pricing can be found at
http://www.covenanteyes.com

In response to this we received an e-mail from Randy Ross of Teens-4-Christ . Following is an excerpt:

Bro. Cloud. As you recall, we have ministered to teens for more than 13 years and we operate Teens-4-Christ.org.

Covenant Eyes is a great product for accountability's sake. In fact, I recommended this product for many years. However, it does not address a more critical problem: accidental views and problems with kids. Additionally, we have found that it was easy to bypass.

Here are some interesting statistics I have found in my research:

* 48 percent of students K-1st grade level interact with people on Web sites, while 50 percent indicate that their parents watch them when they use a computer, leaving the other half of those youngsters more prone to being exposed to predation behaviors or other threats posed by online strangers or even persons they know or regard as friends. (Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008)

Sale on Emerging Church DVD Series

Oct/20/09 10:10 Filed in: Way of Life

This week only, our DVD series "The Emerging Church is Coming" is only $19.95. Regular price is $29.95.

More information can be found here.

What Should I Teach My Children About Movies?

Oct/20/09 10:02 Filed in: Family | Biblical Exhortations

Updated October 20, 2009 (first published December 24, 2003) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

I received the following question by e-mail a couple of days ago: "What stand do you take on going to the movie theater? My husband and I are born again believers and do not feel that we should go to the movies, but we now have teenage children and they are asking why they cannot go. I don't want to tell them because we said no, but would like to give them some biblical answer to help them understand. Do you have any information that might help me. Thank you for your time."

REPLY FROM BROTHER CLOUD

Before I answer your question about why God's people should not go to the movies, let me make a couple of general comments to your statements.

First, I commend you for wanting to give your teenagers a reason for their faith. This is very important. As they grow older, they don't need a mere list of dos and don'ts; they need to learn to think biblically for themselves, to apply the Scriptures to their daily lives. They need to learn that the Bible is very practical and that it speaks to absolutely every situation in life. I grew up in church but I didn't know this. I thought the Bible was just a bunch of old stories that had almost nothing to do with today. I had no idea that it was a Living Book! Of course, I was not saved then; I didn't get saved until I was 23 and had scarred my life deeply with sin. I can't blame my foolishness and rebellion on anyone else, but oh, that the church of my childhood had made the Bible more practical!
Read More...

Friday Church News Notes

Oct/16/09 07:20

October 16, 2009, Volume 10, Issue 42

PDF VERSION

U.S. PRESIDENT PROMISES HOMOSEXUALS THE MOON AND EXPRESSES COMPLETE DISDAIN TOWARD SUPPORTERS OF TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE (Friday Church News Notes, October 16, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Obama: Homosexual Relationships ‘Just as Real and Admirable’ as Heterosexual Marriage,” CNSNews, Oct. 13, 2009: “President Obama delivered an unprecedented message to the Human Rights Campaign Saturday night. Sounding more like a homosexual activist than a sitting president, Obama went well beyond his expected message of ‘I’m here with you’ on the homosexual agenda. ‘My expectation is that when you look back on these years, you will see a time in which we put a stop to discrimination against gays and lesbians--whether in the office or on the battlefield,’ Obama told an estimated audience of 3,000. ‘You will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men or two women as just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman.’ Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese said, ‘This was a historic night when we felt the full embrace and commitment of the President of the United States.’ Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, told CNSNews.com. ‘I think this is the ultimate Obama audacity play--for him, just declaring it seems to make it so. ... he also mentioned his support for a laundry list of homosexual activist issues, including bringing an end to the military’s ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy on homosexuals serving in the military and overturning the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as being between one man and one woman. ... [T]he president also characterized those who oppose the homosexual agenda in terminology reminiscent of last year’s presidential campaign, when then-candidate Obama, campaigning in Pennsylvania, referred to ‘bitter’ residents of small-town America who ‘cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them.’ Obama told Saturday’s event that there are still people ‘who hold fast to outworn arguments and old attitudes; who fail to see your families like their families; who would deny you the rights most Americans take for granted.’”

The Calvinism Debate

Oct/15/09 09:38 Filed in: Calvinism

Updated October 15, 2009 (first published December 12, 2001) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

Calvinism is a theology that was developed by John Calvin (1509-64) in the sixteenth century. He presented this theology in his Institutes of Christian Religion, which subsequently became the cornerstone of Presbyterian and Reformed theology. It is also called TULIP theology. Calvin himself did not use the term TULIP to describe his theology, but it is an accurate, though simplified, representation of his views, and every standard point of TULIP theology can be found in Calvin’s Institutes.

Calvinistic theology was summarized into five points during the debate over the teachings of Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609). Arminius studied under Theodore Beza, Calvin’s successor at Geneva, but he rejected Calvinism and taught his non-Calvinist theology in Holland. Arminius’ followers arranged his teaching under the following five points and began to distribute this theology among the Dutch churches in 1610: (1) Free will, or human ability, (2) Conditional election, (3) Universal Redemption, or General Atonement, (4) Resistible Grace, and (5) Insecure Faith. These points were rejected at the state-church Synod of Dort in Holland in 1618-1619 (attended as well by representatives from France, Germany, Switzerland, and Britain), and this Synod formulated the “five points of Calvinism” in resistance to Arminianism. Arminius’ followers were thereafter put out of their churches and persecuted by their Calvinist brethren.

See our book, The Calvinism Debate for more information.

Paperback:

E-book Download:

Evolutionists in Love With Lucy

Oct/14/09 09:38 Filed in: Evolution

Enlarged October 14, 2009 (first published March 19, 2009) (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

On a recent preaching trip to the States I visited the Museum of Man in San Diego and the Lucy Legacy exhibit in Seattle. Both featured alleged evidence for evolution in the form of the “missing links” between man and beast.

Seattle’s Lucy exhibit is losing a ton of money, because the expected crowds have not materialized. It has been such a financial fiasco that other U.S. cities that were planning to host the exhibit are backing out. Lucy’s bones will probably return to Ethiopia when the Seattle exhibit ends.

The fossilized bones called Lucy consist of a partial skeleton about the size of a chimpanzee that was discovered in 1974 in northern Ethiopia by Donald Johanson and his colleagues.

The discovery is said to be “the key piece in evolution’s puzzle.” They named the fragmentary skeleton “Lucy” after playing the Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” repeatedly at the camp rock & roll party the night of the discovery. Read More...

No Dogs, Ducks or Dinosaurs in Heaven!

Oct/13/09 11:43 Filed in: Doctrine

Not Even Cats, Cows or Crows....

October 13, 2009 (Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

The following is by Don Boys, P.O. Box 944, Ringgold, GA 30736, 706-965-5930, :

Today I enter into a controversy that I cannot win. It is in fact, like sitting on a buzz saw: Do animals go to Heaven? Most sensible people, not controlled by their emotions, would declare that our time, talents, tithes, and teaching, etc., should be spent trying to get people to go to Heaven.

Please note that I admit that animals can be fantastic companions especially to lonely people. They are very important to the blind and efficient in apprehending drug pushers. They are often great as watchdogs and often beneficial to children. But dogs don't go to Heaven. Neither do cats.

Les Kinsolving is an excellent writer for whom I have great respect, even admiration for him holding politicians' feet to the fire; however, in a recent WND column Les went off the rails in a column advocating that dogs and other animals will be in Heaven! He was writing from his heart not his head. He was not driven by facts but by fantasy.

Friday Church News Notes

Oct/08/09 17:17

October 9, 2009, Volume 10, Issue 41

PDF VERSION

NEW APE-MAN ANNOUNCED (Friday Church News Notes, October 9, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - Evolutionary paleoanthropologists have announced the discovery of a new ape-man they are calling Ardipithecus ramidus. Supposedly 4.4 million years old, the first fossils of this creature were found 15 years ago in Ethiopia. A partial skeleton dubbed “Ardi” has been presented to the public by its founders, which include Tim White, who was also involved in the “Lucy” discovery. Ardi has an ape head, ape arms, ape hands, ape legs and feet, and is no compelling reason to say it is anything other than an extinct ape other than the extreme evolutionary bias of modern paleoanthropologists. Having rejected the God of the Bible, they have been searching for the missing link for 150 years. This is in spite of the fact that evolutionary ape-men have repeatedly turned out to be either hoaxes or cases of mistaken identity (e.g., Neanderthal man, Java man, Piltdown man, Peking man, Nebraska man). As was the case with previous ape-men, Ardi has her own drawings. She is depicted as an upright creature that has an ape’s head and feet, but otherwise looking like a hairy woman. This is purely mythical. Ardi doubtless looked nothing like a human being. Its founders claim that she walked upright, but, as is the case with Lucy, this is disputed even by other evolutionary scientists. Ian Tattersall, curator of the American Museum of Natural History, admitted to National Public Radio that “some people are even suggesting there’s not much evidence of bipedality at all” (“Researchers Unearth A Hominid More Ancient Than Lucy,” NPR, Science Friday, Oct. 2, 2009). I have observed rhesus macaque monkeys in Kathmandu, Nepal, walking upright for considerable distances, but they are neither “bipedal” nor “missing links.” Seven years ago, Science magazine reported that “skeptics argue that the published fossils [of Ardi] are so chimplike that they may represent the long-lost ancestor of the chimp, not human, lineage” (Ann Gibbons, “In Search of the First Hominids,” Science, February 15, 2002). Time magazine reported that “looking at the evidence, different paleoanthropologists may have different interpretations of how Ardi moved or what she reveals about the last common ancestor of humans and chimps” (Michael Lemonick and Andrea Dorfman, “Excavating Ardi: A New Piece for the Puzzle of Human Evolution,” Time, Oct. 1, 2009). It is important to understand that the pelvis of Ardi was “found crushed nearly to smithereens and needed extensive digital reconstruction” (Time, Oct. 1, 2009). We are reminded of the daring reconstruction of Lucy’s pelvis in such a fashion that it now wondrously fits its founder’s hypothesis that it was bipedal.

Covenant Eyes for Internet Users

Oct/08/09 07:28 Filed in: Family

Pornography has become a massive problem in the internet age. This powerfully addictive sin is only a mouse click away when we are browsing the internet, and it has taken many captive.

We would like to recommend a new service called Covenant Eyes, which monitors the individual’s internet usage and emails reports to selected people for accountability. A husband can have the e-mails sent to his wife. A pastor can have them sent to his deacons. Parents can receive reports on their children’s browsing history.

The accountability report lists web sites visited, internet searches, and the times of day when the Internet is used. It also features a score that ranks the individual’s level of objectionable internet usage.

Covenant Eyes also has a filtering service that can be used in combination with the accountability service.

Complete information and pricing can be found at

http://www.covenanteyes.com

Scientists Who Believe the Bible

Oct/07/09 07:24 Filed in: Evolution

High Schools, colleges, and universities typically teach only one theory of origins, that being evolution, and the students are not presented with a creationist viewpoint. In fact, they are often given the idea that no true scientist today is a creationist. When the National Academy of Sciences in America published an educational tool in 1998 entitled Teaching about Evolution and the Nature of Science, they posed this question, “Don’t many scientists reject evolution?” The answer was, “No; the scientific consensus around evolution is overwhelming.”

Richard Dawkins, a brash atheist and anti-creationist, says in his recent book The Greatest Show in Earth,

“Evolution is a fact. Beyond reasonable doubt, beyond serious doubt, beyond sane, informed, intelligent doubt, beyond doubt evolution is a fact. ... Evolution is a fact, and [my] book will demonstrate it. No reputable scientist disputes it, and no unbiased reader will close the book doubting it.”
According to Dawkins, if you reject evolution, you are unintelligent and your sanity should be questioned, and he proclaims that no reputable scientist disputes it.

The Modernistic Attack on the Bible In These Last Days

Oct/06/09 07:25 Filed in: Modernism

It is impossible to understand what is happening in our day if without a knowledge of the history of theological modernism.

Modernism weakened people’s faith in the Bible and set the stage for the success of the theory of evolution. Had modernism not weakened the Church of England and other denominations it would not have been so widely accepted. Charles Darwin was even honored by the Church of England with a burial in the Westminster Cathedral.

Modernism paved the way for the vicious attack of the Bible in the popular press. The ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, published in 1878, included essays that were critical of the Bible, making such criticism available generally to English-speaking people for the first time. Since then the assault of the Bible in the popular press has become common. Newsweek, Time, the New York Times, the London Times, National Geographic, CNN, BBC, and countless other influential voices regularly publish reports criticizing the Bible. This has become perfectly acceptable.

Friday Church News Notes

Oct/02/09 08:11

DOWNLOAD PDF VERSION

October 2, 2009, Volume 10, Issue 40

The Friday Church News Notes is designed for use in churches and is published by Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Unless otherwise stated, the Notes are written by David Cloud. Of necessity we quote from a wide variety of sources, but this does not imply an endorsement. For instructions on how to unsubscribe to this list or to change mailing addresses, please consult the information paragraph at the end.

EGYPTIAN COINS WITH JOSEPH’S IMAGE DISCOVERED (Friday Church News Notes, October 2, 2009, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Archaeologists Find ‘Joseph-era’ Coins,” Jerusalem Post, Sept. 25, 2009: “Archeologists have discovered ancient Egyptian coins bearing the name and image of the biblical Joseph, Cairo’s Al Ahram newspaper recently reported. Excerpts provided by MEMRI show that the coins were discovered among a multitude of unsorted artifacts stored at the Museum of Egypt. ... ‘A thorough examination revealed that the coins bore the year in which they were minted and their value, or effigies of the pharaohs [who ruled] at the time of their minting. Some of the coins are from the time when Joseph lived in Egypt, and bear his name and portrait,’ said the report.”